AlphaBet Cafe back open on East 14th Street and Avenue B

[Bobby Williams]

Just noting that AlphaBet Cafe, a fine little place for an inexpensive meal, is back open ... they were closed for several days due to a gas problem, according to signs on the door.

The New York City Marble Cemetery is open until 5 today on East 2nd Street

From the EVG inbox...

The New York City Marble Cemetery invites you to visit on our Neighborhood Open Day on SUNDAY SEPT. 15 from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Come and enjoy our peaceful green space

*Upcoming Dates*

Our Fall Open Weekend
Saturday and Sunday
Oct. 12 and 13
10 am to 5 pm
With historical displays, photos and artifacts
Visit and learn more of the history of the Cemetery and those interred here.

East Second Street between First Avenue and Second Avenue.

[Updated] Memorials for LES Jewels in the East Village

There are at least four memorials now in the neighborhood for Joel Pakela, aka LES Jewels, who died this morning from what some people have said was a drug overdose. (No official word just yet.) There is a memorial now on Avenue A at East Ninth Street...









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St. Mark's Place at Second Avenue...





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... and outside the Museum of Reclaimed Urban Space (MoRUS) on Avenue C...





There are also several candles lit in his honor outside Ray's on Avenue A.

Thanks to our dear friends at MoRUS for the above photos.

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Updated 9-15

Steven Hirsch shared these photos from last night on Avenue A and East Ninth Street...











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This morning around 7:30 ...


[EVG]

Previously on EV Grieve:
RIP LES Jewels (35 comments)

RIP LES Jewels

[Photo from 2011 by Bob Arihood]

Word is circulating in Tompkins Square Park today that LES Jewels, a familiar figure in the neighborhood, has died. Park regulars said that Jewels, aka Joel Pakela, died as a result of a drug overdose. [Update 9-16: A cause of death has not been confirmed. There are other theories, as you can see in the comments.] Friends said that he was 43.

According to sources, Jewels was found unconscious this morning at 7:44 on Avenue A at East Ninth Street. An EMS crew tried unsuccessfully to revive him. He was pronounced dead at the scene.

His drug- and alcohol-fueled rampages along Avenue A and in Tompkins Square Park were well-documented by Bob Arihood at Neither More Nor Less.

One longtime resident recently introduced himself to Jewels ... and wasn't sure what to expect.

"He couldn't have been nicer."

Here's the last photo that we've seen of Jewels, taken Sept. 8 at the Museum of Reclaimed Urban Space (MoRUS) on Avenue C...


[Photo via MoRUS]

Giuseppi Logan ready for the day in Tompkins Square Park

EV resident Brian Kubovcik shares this photo from this morning... where Giuseppi Logan is setting up in Tompkins Square Park.

Per Brian: "Always brightens my day to see him out there."

Agreed!

Tina Turnstile sings, 'We don't need another Starbucks...'

Details per YouTube:

Tina Turnstile has had it with the corporate takeover of NYC neighborhoods and has something to say about it!
Tina Turnstile — Written/Performed by: David Ilku
Directed & Produced by: Parker Posey & Jodi Lennon

And sung to the tune of Tina Turner's "We Don't Need Another Hero (Thunderdome)"...

"We don't need another Starbucks ... we don't another Duane Reade... we don't need another bank branch..."

[H/t Doug at Big Gay Ice Cream]

Noted

Dave on 7th notes that Citibank has apparently moved the Jacob Riis Houses a few avenues to the west...

To your next apartment

"Cockroach," the new one off the fourth record by Crocodiles.

Davey's Ice Cream opens tonight; free scoops alert

[Photo via @salim]

As noted earlier ... over at 137 First Ave. just north of St.Mark's Place...

Previously on EV Grieve:
More details on Davey's Ice Cream, opening later this summer on First Avenue

A walk in Alphabet City in 1978: 'I was in love. I stayed.'

EVG reader and East Village resident ilyse kazar recently shared a few photos from 1978... Shot on East Sixth Street and East Seventh Street between Avenue B and Avenue C.





I asked ilyse if she had any memories to share with the photos. Here's what she said:

In 1978 I took a long walk with my camera, heading eastward from my apartment on 2nd Avenue. As I strayed farther and farther into the burnt out and rubble-lot blocks of Alphabet City, I was simultaneously shocked by the desolation and desecration and urban neglect and conditions people had to live in, and awed by the subcultures and the bright and energetic spirit of the people.

Here and there the community was beginning to claim this land and these buildings that had been redlined by banks, burned down by owners, and ignored by government. Some lots had been cleared, some little gardens started. Amidst the drug dealing and desolation were murals and interesting stores and kids playing stickball.

Spray-painted on the side of one building alongside a rubble-filled lot was "Milagro de Loisaida," with a big flower springing up from the destruction.

I was in love. I stayed. I raised my kids here. I'm growing old here. I cling to the little scraps of evidence that the renegade, tenacious, creative spirit still lives amidst the alarming suburbanization of my neighborhood.

Looking forward to seeing more of ilyse's photos from this time...

[Photos © by ilyse kazar. Reposted with permission]

First sign of more development on East 14th Street?

[Image between A & B via Google]

As you know, many storefronts along East 14th Street between Avenue A and Avenue B have been cleared out ahead of some new development that will eat up a good portion of the block. (Read about this here.)

Now it appears that it's time to starting clearing out storefronts just to the west... between Avenue A and the Peter Stuyvesant Post Office, whose lease expires in February.



The USPS will lease the former Duane Reade on East 14th Street near First Avenue for retail services, such as stamp sales and P.O. boxes.

Back in April, we noted this about the single-level businesses lined up next to the post office: "This is all drool-worthy space for some developer."

And just like that, an EVG Facebook tipster notes that the Stuyvesant Stationery shop next door has lost its lease and is closing...




For now, there are only the usual rumors about what's next here (NYU dorms are always a popular guess) ... and how will the other businesses along here fare in the coming months? Will the rest of the block to Avenue A go away to make way for a new development?



Previously on EV Grieve:
UPDATED: Did you hear the rumor about the Peter Stuyvesant Post Office branch closing?

Report: Closure of the Peter Stuyvesant Post Office is pretty much a done deal

Give me 'Liberty:' New mural on East 9th Street honors Tompkins Square Park

Throughout the week, we've been watching a new mural go up on the side of Doc Holliday's on Avenue A and East Ninth Street... Bobby Williams has been keeping tabs on the progress...







... the mural is now complete...



What's it all about? Per a tipster:

A gift from Dorian Grey Gallery [on East 9th Street] and UK street artist STIK to the neighborhood. The mural is titled "Liberty" in honor of the history of Tompkins Square Park.